A standout individual performance and top relay finishes were big reasons the Washington-Liberty Generals won a region indoor track-and-field championship.
In addition, there were other key contributors as the Generals achieved the girls high-school title for the first time.
Washington-Liberty amassed 74 points to win the 6D North Region crown over two days at two different venues Feb. 13-14. The Chantilly Chargers were a close second with 66.
The first day the competition was held in Prince George’s County, then because of weather issues it moved to Episcopal High School in Alexandria for day two.
The Generals capped the title by scoring 21 team points the second day.
The individual standout for Washington-Liberty was junior Gabriela Netwall. She scored 30 points individually, many on the first day, by winning the long jump (17-3 3/4), finishing second in the triple jump and shot put and fourth in the high jump.
In addition, Netwall ran on the winning 4×400 relay (4:06.07) and runner-up 4×200 relay.
Including the relays, she helped the Generals earn 48 points.
“Gabi Netwall is a generational athlete, she is amazing and is a team player,” W-L coach John Bacon told ARLnow. “Overall, we had a lot of depth. It just turned out that the girls all did their jobs, and winning was a lot of fun, thrilling and memorable for them.”
Another top contributor for W-L was Ella Kaplan with a second in the high jump, fifth in the triple jump and sixth in the 55-meter hurdles. She also ran on the winning relay along with Morgan Brown and Therese Johansson, who finished fourth in the 1,000. Brown was ninth in the 55 dash.
Alexis Morley-Lascano was fifth in the pole vault, Alba Edsall sixth in the 3,200, Mina Dowler seventh in the 3,200, Elizabeth Rupert seventh in the shot, Aida Edsall 12th in the 500 and Camille Walker 13th in the shot.
Washington-Liberty’s 4×800 relay was seeded fifth and finished second, earning important points. Johansson anchored the relay, which also included Emily Buckwalter, Maddie Brys and Katherine Floom.
“That was a tremendous and gritty effort by that relay,” Bacon said. “That finish kept us in contention and helped us win the region. Every extra team point was important, and we had a lot of day-two heroics.”
In addition to Netwall, the 4×200 relay consisted of Brown, Kaplan and Heidi Kim.
Also in the region meet, the Wakefield Warriors placed eighth and the Yorktown Patriots ninth.
For Wakefield, Grace Armitage was third in the long jump, triple jump and 55 hurdles and fourth in the 300. Jillian Reck was second in the 55 dash and sixth in the 300.
Hosanna Connor was sixth in the pole vault and Madeleine Wearing seventh. Ada Jordan was seventh in the long jump and Corinne Breyault eighth in the high jump.
Yorktown was led by region champion Kaiya Ovando in the shot put with a throw of 34-7 1/2. Olivia Stafford was second in the 500. In the 1,600, Ellen Malloy was fifth and Ella Dunn eighth.
